Los Angeles Philharmonic Heads to Coachella Music Festival

In Friday’s Los Angeles Times, August Brown writes, “On Saturday evening, the LA Phil will trek out to new ground. They’re finally playing the other verdant, globally recognized outdoor music venue that embodies the Southern California idyll—the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. For [Music and Artistic Director Gustavo] Dudamel, 44, who arrived in L.A. 17 years ago to lead the Phil, playing Coachella was ‘a dream, ever since I started here’ he said … It’s surprising that the two dominant music institutions of Southern California had never formally teamed up onstage before with an original set. But as Dudamel prepares to make his emotional exit to lead the New York Philharmonic next year, the timing was especially poignant….  The L.A. Phil is no stranger to pop music collaborations, and orchestras have appeared at Coachella before … But this first-time crossover continues a long tradition of the Phil’s music directors sharing mutual curiosity with the city’s other flagship music industries…. For Dudamel, a Venezuelan who famously came out of that country’s vanguard El Sistema youth music program, and who opened his L.A. tenure with a free Hollywood Bowl concert introducing the new Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, it fits with his lifelong value of bringing classical music to young audiences.”